A little concerned. Is this normal?

Hi guys, I apologize if this is the wrong place, or if I'm missing something; but I messaged Robo3D team on their FB page 9 days ago, asking about an alteration to my order.
I received a message asking me to contact support, and using the email address they gave me (robo3dhelp@gmail.com) I did just that.
Well it's been 8 days since then, and I still haven't received a reply back. I've messaged them a couple of times now, using that email and the support form given on this website, and given the amount of people on the FB page being left without an answer (generally questions are answered within 1-2 days) I'm starting to get a little worried that this company's support of their product is perhaps not so good?

I've already kind of given up on changing my order as it is supposed to have shipped or will be shipping soon (assuming they are anywhere near on-schedule), but it would still be great to know that I didn't just spend close to $1000 cad (printer plus a Kilo of filament) on a product that isn't going to have any support.

Does anybody know why they won't answer their messages? Is this just par for the course when dealing with Robo 3D?

 

Did you try entering a support request at:
http://www.robo3dprinter.com/pages/general-questions

From their Facebook page it looks like some of the team is in NYC this week. Last fall when I needed customer support from them Jerry in support got back to my emails immediately. Sounds like they are being inundated right now.

 

Yeah, I used the support form as well. I understand the team is busy, but it seems a little short-sighted not to have somebody around to deal with customer support.
I guess I will try again and keep sending messages until I get an answer....

 

Dude I feel your pain .. I sent them 3 emails And not a single reply back and I can't use my printer

 

Ouch! That's no bueno buddy, your need is greater than my own so I hope they get to you first.
I have to say this is a little disconcerting.

 

I did receive a reply from a Braydon Moreno after messaging robo3dprinter@gmail.com. I guess the other ones are not being looked at as often?
They got my filament switched as requested, now hopefully I will not have to wait too much longer before it ships.

 

I still have not even received a single email back.. going onto a week without any support., 4 emails later to there technical support .. I guess you have to track them down by obscure means..
I cannot begin to tell you my rage today, How can someone be so calm when you have a broken machine and a warranty that mean SHIIT.

 

Hi John, have you made the issue public on their FB page? By the looks of things, they get to you faster when you bring things out into the open.
Which is kind of lame.

Doesn't anybody know what is going on with this company?

 

Jerry forgot to enable his auto reply saying he'd be out of town. He's catching up now.


They're hiring 2 more people to handle CS. Hopefully it's enough

 

Thanks Mike. I've seen you helping people all over the forums for quite some time now, good on ya buddy. We need it!

Anyhow, I just got an email from Jerry. As much as I love the Robo3D brand, these guys have to get their communications figured out; both externally and internally.

Here is the message:

Hi Jason,

I don’t have a way of modifying orders. Actually we stopped selling PLA only printers so I’m sorry but I am not able to sell that product to you. We postpone shipping printers last week because we are modifying the heat bed wires. We will be shipping printers out by the end of this week. Sorry for the delay and thank you for your patience!

Thank you for being a part of Robo3D!
Thank you for your interest in Robo3D!

Jerry
Team Robo3D

Thank God they couldn't send me a PLA printer, I asked to switch my order of filament not the printer itself!

An honest enough mistake though; it was nice to hear back from them and knowing they have some more people coming to help out with support gives me a good feeling.

 

What did you ask him? I'll nag him to send you a correct response later

 

The question to which he replied was "I was hoping to change my order of ABS to PLA instead.".

Like I said, an honest mistake. Braydon Moreno got to it a few days ago and told me they made the change.

 

Ok, so here's what's going on now. On the 3rd of this month I received a message from Tiffany at support, saying that they were slightly delayed due to an issue with the heat bed wiring, and assured me that my printer would be shipped out last week.
Well my printer didn't ship (surprise surprise) so I sent them another email politely asking when it would and received no reply until the 10th when I get a generic message apologizing for the delay and saying as an apology that all of the delayed orders are receiving a new all-metal hexagon hotend from RepRap Discount @ no extra cost and with no added delay; which is cool, but I would still like to know when I am getting my printer.
I messaged them again explaining that I was thankful for the hotend but would still like to know when I am getting my printer (I did pay close to $1000 CAD for printer + filament; I believe I have a right to know) and I haven't heard back.
Is there anybody here who can attempt to reach Braydon or somebody else with a bit of clout in this company and request that we receive some transparency regarding how long we are going to have to wait?
At this point, I really can't say I would have gone with the R1 if I had known the wait was so long. Part of my decision to go with this company was that it appeared that they were better at handling their customers, unlike some of the other printer companies like Makibox who seem to ignore their customers completely.
What gives Robo? Hiring new support doesn't help those of us who are left in the dark if you aren't willing to address their concerns with more than a $50 hotend; compared to what I have already spent that $50 is peanuts, I only want to know when I am getting my printer!!!

 

From what I understand they didn't say anything of the sort. They simply said printers would begin shipping again this week, not that yours specifically would.

 

Not to be coarse and no offence intended Mike (I understand you are only trying to help and I appreciate it) but I'm not the sort of person to speak without being careful about what I am implying (no worries though, you do not know me and vice versa). This is the exact text of the email I received on 7/3/2014

Dear Jason,

First and foremost, thank you very much for your order and thank you for being patient with us. We momentarily postponed the shipment of printers because we needed to modify the heat bed wires. We’ll get your printer shipped out by next week. We are sorry for the delay. Thank you for checking in with us. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you in the meantime.

We will change your order, and ship the PLA Filament instead.

So you see, the email was definitely addressing my particular printer and not the same general message that everybody else received; were that the case I would not have brought it up.
As I said before, I am ok with a little delay and I am happy to be receiving the new hot-end, but it all does little to allay my concerns regarding how much longer I am going to have to wait to receive my printer (which I ordered at the beginning of last month).
I was quoted a 3 week shipping time when I first bought in, and I am now looking at close to a month and a half.
Not cool, but acceptable if I am given a reasonable projection of when I am going to see my money's worth.
I'm not asking for much, I just want to know when my printer is going to ship.

 

Thanks tesseract, I'll give it a try. Although I have sent them a number of emails and got nothing more than the generic hot-end message.
I do appreciate the help guys, I'm sorry if I come across as feeling entitled, but when you drop so much money on something then play the waiting game it kind of goes with the territory.

Cheers.

 

Hey, just thought I'd let it be known that given what I now know regarding how many orders these guys are receiving and how small their little team is, Robo3D staff has actually been quite good at working together with me to get my shipment prioritized and out the door.
I am guessing they have a lot of messages to sift through and only a couple of people do to it, whereas it was my unrealistic expectation that they get back to me immediately.

Anyhow, Braydon got back to me this morning telling me that my printer should be shipping out within the next few days with no issues; the fact that he is willing to handle my case personally says a lot of good about his ethic and his company in general.

Awesome, can't wait.

 

Braydon's a really good guy and cares deeply about his customers. He just has to make tough sacrifices on where to assign their man hours.